Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Must Read Faster!

Awhile back I read a blog post by a certain favorite author that I can't seem to get out of my head. Well, he's actually written a few posts recently that have stuck with me, but this one post particularly because it's all about books.

Using a life expectancy of 80 and an average figure of 90 books a year (obviously that number will go way down as I get older, but for now, that's where I'm at!) I get the number of 2970.

Does that sound like a lot? Or hardly any?

Here's what it makes me wonder:

-- what books should I be spending my time reading? All the classics? All the new books? All the books by my favorite authors? And what about the never ending re-reading question? Should I even "waste" my limited number of books by doing re-reads?

--and if you tend to think that I should only be reading "good" books and don't waste time on the "bad"... how would we even define that? A book is mostly good or bad simply depending on my mood....

-- does this mean I have all the more power to DNF a book if I want? No guilt? No regrets? No apologies? Ah, but still, what if that book ends up being a favorite if I stick with it? What if it's just my mood again?

-- should I try to up the amount of books I read? Read less chunksters and more littles? Or more chunksters and less littles?

In the end, I've decided there's no use feeling stressed by this! And I'm sure I won't change my reading habits in any significant way, except for maybe being easier on myself for not finishing a book that's just not working... or at the very least being okay to put it down and try it again later.

So... what's your number and what do you worry most about when you see it? Or does the thought even worry you at all?

Interesting! I've got 2405 books to read, assuming I keep up a pace of 4 books a month. Since I mostly read for fun, I think I'll just keep on reading whatever I'm in the mood for. :)But it is kind of sad to think of all the books I'll never read.

My number is only 920 if I go with about 20 books per year, which has been my average. That doesn't even cover my entire TBR list!!! I need to get reading faster. Or, I need to seriously cut down on my TBR list. Sigh. Why can't I spend all my time reading?

How fun! If I read an average of 100 books a year (which the past couple years as been normal), I have about 5480 more books to read. Which sounds like a lot, but what scares me is knowing that I just may not live until 80 and I could die next year, which means so many less books...

hehe, I read only 70-80 per year, so I have no time to read all I want! I don't know what to do! :)I sometimes think about giving up the books that I don't like or I found boring, but I feel guilty and I finally read them.

that seems like a lot to me. Dan Wells is awesome I love that he posted that! I gave up on reading books that I "should" once I ditched grad school. I'm all about reading Whatever.I.Want and I find that I can get so much from even what other people might think are fluff and just for fun.

I have no idea how long I'll live and I don't even want to hazard a guess, lol. I do know that I won't live long enough to read all the books that I want to read! Thinking about that makes me a bit sad.

The power of DNF! Yes! I won't spend time with a book that doesn't dazzle me or teach me something. Who has time for mediocre books? Not this girl :)

I love doing this kind of calculation, but it stresses me out big time too. There are so many books I want to get to, and I don't want to waste my time. But I also want to have fun and discover books randomly. Ah, the dilemmas of reading.

Well this is kind of sad and inspring at the same time. I got 2600. That doesn't seem like enough! Maybe I should think my whole never DNF rule but at the same time I didn't like Tale of Two Cities until the end. I think this makes me want to prioritize more and make sure I'm picking books I think I'll LOVE.

Wow, what a ride. When an invisible barrier suddenly descends on this small town, how will the people handle things? Let's just say... not very well! Would it be giving away too much if I say... pretty much EVERYONE dies! And all written in...